College Football Kickoff 2013: North Carolina at South Carolina, Alabama vs. Virginia Tech and a roundup of opening weekend college football highlights.
College football season kicks off on Aug. 29 with a Thursday night matchup at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the North Carolina Tar Heels (ESPN, 6pm ET). The second game in ESPN’s doubleheader has the Ole Miss Rebels visiting the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, Tenn.
College football’s opening weekend continues on Saturday, Aug. 31, at 5:30pm ET, with a big matchup between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Virginia Tech Hokies at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. Last season, head coach Nick Saban’s Tide rolled to a 42-14 victory over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game. Following that game is another neutral site clash on ESPN as the LSU Tigers and the TCU Horned Frogs show down in the Cowboys Classic in Arlington, Texas.
ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPNEWS, Longhorn Network and ESPN Radio Schedule
Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
Thu, Aug 29 | 6 p.m. | North Carolina at No. 6 South Carolina ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Ponder Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad |
ESPN & ESPN Radio |
6 p.m. | Liberty at Kent State Michael Reghi & John Gregory |
ESPN3 | |
6:30 p.m. | Presbyterian at Wake Forest Roy Philpott, Brian Kinchen & Angela Mallen |
ESPN3 | |
7 p.m. | Tulsa at Bowling Green Joe Davis & David Diaz-Infante |
ESPNU | |
7 p.m. | Illinois State at Ball State Jim Barbar & Rocky Boiman |
ESPN3 | |
7 p.m. | Akron at UCF Drew Fellios, Al Groh & Tiffany Greene |
ESPN3 | |
7:30 p.m. | Towson at Connecticut Bob Picozzi, KC Keeler & John Brickley |
ESPN3 | |
7:30 p.m. | Southern Utah at South Alabama Mike Gleason & Cole Cubelic |
ESPN3 | |
9:15 p.m. | Ole Miss at Vanderbilt Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Maria Taylor |
ESPN | |
10:30 p.m. | Rutgers at Fresno State Dave Flemming, Mike Bellotti & Lewis Johnson |
ESPNU | |
Fri, Aug 30 | 7 p.m. | Samford at Georgia State Ryan Rose & Cory Chavous |
ESPN3 |
8 p.m. | Texas Tech at SMU Carter Blackburn, Danny Kanell & Allison Williams |
ESPN | |
8 p.m. | Florida Atlantic at Miami (Fla.) Tom Hart, John Congemi & Brooke Weisbrod |
ESPNU | |
8:30 p.m. | Southern at Houston Brett Dolan, Kevin O’Connell & Sean Adams |
ESPN3 | |
Sat, Aug 31 | Noon | Buffalo at No. 2 Ohio State Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Paul Carcaterra |
ESPN2 |
Purdue at Cincinnati Eamon McAnaney & Anthony Becht |
ESPNU | ||
Villanova at Boston College Ryan Ruocco, Pete Najarian & Cassidy Hubbarth |
ESPNEWS | ||
Elon at Georgia Tech Shawn Kenney, Stan Lewter & Steffi Sorenson |
ESPN3 | ||
12:21 p.m. | Toledo at No. 10 Florida Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Cara Capuano |
SEC Network & ESPN3 * | |
12:30 p.m. | Louisiana Tech at NC State | ESPN3 & ACC Network * | |
Florida International at Maryland | ESPN3 & RSN * | ||
1 p.m. | Rice at No. 7 Texas A&M Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Tom Luginbill |
ESPN | |
3:30 p.m. | 2013 AdvoCare Texas Kickoff: Mississippi State vs. No. 13 Oklahoma State (from Houston) Bob Wischusen, Rod Gilmore & Quint Kessenich |
ABC & ESPN2 ** | |
Syracuse vs. Penn State (from East Rutherford, N.J.) Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards |
ABC & ESPN2 ** | ||
BYU at Virginia Anish Shroff & Kelly Stouffer |
ESPNU | ||
4 p.m. | North Carolina Central at Duke John Sadak, Al Groh & Jeff Taylor |
ESPN3 | |
Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas Bob Rathbun, Tim Couch & Elizabeth Moreau |
ESPN3 & RSN * | ||
5:30 p.m. | Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game: No. 1 Alabama vs. Virginia Tech (from Atlanta) ESPN: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman & Shannon Spake Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad |
ESPN & ESPN Radio | |
6 p.m. | Howard at Eastern Michigan Dan Gutowsky & Mark Hermann |
ESPN3 | |
Austin Peay at Tennessee Mike Keith & Pat Ryan |
ESPN3 | ||
Furman at Gardner-Webb Chuck Hussion, Corey Stewart & David Cobb |
ESPN3 | ||
7 p.m. | Washington State at Auburn Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb & Dawn Davenport |
ESPNU | |
Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky (from Nashville) Joe Davis, David Diaz-Infante & Joe Budden |
ESPNEWS | ||
McNeese State at South Florida Drew Fellios, Doug Graber & Tiffany Greene |
ESPN3 | ||
Arkansas Pine-Bluff at Arkansas State Brock Bowling & Forrest Connoly |
ESPN3 | ||
UAB at Troy Dave Weekley & Cole Cubelic |
ESPN3 | ||
Murray State at Missouri | ESPN3 | ||
8 p.m. | No. 5 Georgia at No. 8 Clemson Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Heather Cox |
ABC | |
New Mexico State at No. 15 Texas Dave Lamont, Ray Bentley & Kaylee Hartung |
Longhorn Network | ||
9 p.m. | Cowboys Classic: No. 20 TCU vs. No. 12 LSU Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe |
ESPN | |
Appalachian State at Montana | ESPN3 | ||
10:30 p.m. | No. 22 Northwestern at California Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Lewis Johnson |
ESPN2 | |
Sun, Sep 1 | 11:45 a.m. | MEAC/SWAC Challenge: Florida A&M vs. Mississippi Valley State Tom Hart & Jay Walker |
ESPN |
3:30 p.m. | Ohio at No. 9 Louisville Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Maria Taylor |
ESPN | |
8 p.m. | Bethune-Cookman at Tennessee State | ESPN3 | |
Mon, Sep 2 | 8 p.m. | No. 11 Florida State at Pittsburgh Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Ponder |
ESPN |
* Local blackout may apply
** Reverse mirror in which ESPN2 will regionalize two games on ABC to markets not receiving the telecast